1. Technical Field
Various embodiments include a method and system for detecting an unauthorized use of a vehicle. The unauthorized use may be by an authorized driver.
2. Background Art
Authorized drivers of a vehicle (i.e., drivers other than the vehicle owner such as (without limitation children and employees) may use a vehicle for purposes other than the vehicle's intended purpose. For example, employees may use a company vehicle for personal needs while driving to a job site. As another example, children may take a detour with the vehicle to venues other than those known and approved by a parent. While vehicle tracking systems exist for tracking an unauthorized use, existing tracking system are generally used for vehicle anti-theft deterrence. These tracking systems may use tracking technologies such as radio frequency (RF) transmitter beacons, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) transceivers for reporting GPS location, or embedded cell phone transceivers that are triangulated. These tracking devices are generally placed in a vehicle in a location that makes it difficult for a thief to detect and locate the tracking box. Even with these approaches, automotive thieves have developed clever ways of detecting and defeating these approaches so that a stolen vehicle cannot be tracked by authorities because thieves do not want to draw attention and also want to maximize the fencing value of the stolen vehicle, most of the defeat techniques used by thieves are non-destructive.
Recently, vehicle owners have been using similar devices in order to track the location of vehicles driven by authorized user (e.g., company employees, customers, and/or children). Such tracking is generally a condition of use of the vehicle. These tracking systems may transmit information from a vehicle to the owner or monitoring system to alert the owner that the vehicle has been moved, is moving, or has exceeded some geographical boundary or other data point. Such information may allow the owner to determine whether the usage of the vehicle is acceptable and authorized by the owner. It is known that a segment of these authorized drivers object to and may not like the fact that they are being tracked but agree to such terms as a condition of employment or parental approval for use of the vehicle. Such an objection to the tracking may cause a motivation to disable the system. Some individuals may act on this motivation if it is known that such a system may be easily defeated, difficult to trace, and/or provide financial and/or privacy incentives. Examples of a financial incentive may include the avoidance of rental car company penalties for driving out of state, speeding, and off-road usage. One example of a privacy incentive may include a teen driver notifying his/her parent that he/she will be at a friend's house for the evening when the teen intends to be at a party across town.
Because conventional commercial tracking systems may not be concerned with tracking thieves, they may not consider concealing the tracking system hardware and/or wiring within the vehicle. In addition, the installation of such systems in the vehicle may be in the same general location and instruction manuals may be readily available on the internet or from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), which provides information as to the location of the device in the vehicle.
Conventional tracking systems may draw a larger key-off load (KOL) that can tax the battery of the vehicle. Such a larger KOL may cause no-start conditions or give rise to premature wear-out of the vehicle battery. In one example, a KOL target for a GPS tracking system may be 3 to 5 mA. Because the KOL may be large, aftermarket products and OEMs may disable GPS operation when the vehicle is shut-off to reduce operating current and associated service costs. In this case, a call center or tracking provider may report the last known powered location when an owner of the vehicle makes an inquiry on the location of the vehicle. This situation can be simulated when driving by removing power to the tracking system to cause the vehicle to look stationary.
Using their gained knowledge on how to disable a tracking system, authorized drivers may accordingly simulate a vehicle shutdown. Consequently, a call center or tracking provider may report the last known powered location when an inquiry is made by an owner of the vehicle's location. Such a simulation may appear “normal” to a call center or tracking provider because many aftermarket producers and OEMs may turn off the GPS system when the vehicle is shut-off in order to reduce operating current associated with a substantial key-off load (KOL) current drawn by these tracking systems and associated service cost. The KOL current may tax the battery of the vehicle which may cause vehicles not to start or a vehicle battery to prematurely wear out.
Other aftermarket providers that are less concerned with KOL may use strategies to wakeup and transmit GPS data at set intervals (e.g., an hourly location report that is collected every twelve minutes). However, the periodic update approval may not prevent a determined authorized user from temporarily jamming the GPS system during a period of unauthorized use.